Reporting gaps between news media and scientific papers on outdoor air pollution–related health outcomes: A content analysis

Zhuanlan Sun, Jun Cang, Yuhui Ruan and Demi Zhu

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2020, vol. 35, issue 1, 221-232

Abstract: Objectives In China, news media are useful for educating the public about the health threats of air pollution. To explore the potential gaps between scientific findings and the public's understanding of them, the characteristics of news media articles and their corresponding scientific papers were analysed. Methods We used 22 articles relating to the health outcomes of exposure to outdoor air pollution published on Baidu News over the past year. An assessment tool developed by Robinson et al was used to evaluate the quality scores of news articles. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to measure the relationship between news media reporting and the characteristics of scientific papers. Misleading reporting, interpretation, or extrapolation in headlines and text bodies of news articles were examined. Results The quality scores of the news articles ranged from −4 to 8, with an overall median score of 3. Correlation results showed that the scientific papers citation in Twitter (r = .88, P

Date: 2020
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